


New Center of Gravity

by Princessfbi



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Babies, Baby Names, Best Uncle Evan "Buck" Buckley, Buddie if you squint, Chimney is a Good Dad, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Evan "Buck" Buckley Needs A Hug, F/M, Family Feels, First Words, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hinted Past Child Abuse, Insecurity, Maddie and Chim are Great Parents, Parenthood, Protective Howie "Chimney" Han, Protective Maddie Buckley, Separation Anxiety, Team as Family, Teething, Toxic Parent-Child Relationships, Tummy Time, Water Safety, baby giggles, parenting is hard, past bad parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:40:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24710209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princessfbi/pseuds/Princessfbi
Summary: “Maddie,” Chim said. “I abandoned our daughter at a fire station to go fire her pediatrician but I’m going back for her now.”ORFive Times Buck was an Amazing Uncle and One Time Chim Made Sure Everyone Knew It.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Howie "Chimney" Han, Evan "Buck" Buckley & Maddie Buckley, Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han
Comments: 31
Kudos: 679
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	New Center of Gravity

June Evelyn Han came into this world in the rumblings of an earthquake that took out the power of half the city and left her father trapped in a tipped over ambulance. But at nine pounds and six ounces, a head of black curls, and a set of lungs that would rival a siren on fire truck, she was the happy and healthy baby girl that Maddie and Chim had been waiting for. 

Her name had been simple enough. June after Chim’s mother. He’d suggested it only after he and Maddie had spent countless hours pouring over books and suggestions from friends and family. He’d been nervous and just a little self-conscious, ducking his head like he did as if he was trying to avoid the rebound of rejection, when he’d offered it up. But Maddie had smiled and cried because her hormones were still out of this world and called it _perfect._

Chim had found himself thinking about his mom more and more during Maddie’s pregnancy. He’d catch himself staring as Maddie absentmindedly rubbed her bump and just find himself breathless. God, he missed his mom. He missed her smile and the way she would laugh with him instead of at him when he’d been a kid with too much energy even when she was too tired to do more than sit up most days.

It was too early to tell because most times it usually just came from gas but he was pretty sure June had hints of his mom’s smile.

Her second name, well, Buck hadn’t gotten it at first. He’d been too busy falling in love with his niece with wide eyes that were tearing up fast and trembling hands that steadied when Chim had placed her in his arms. It wasn’t until Maddie had curled a hand on his ankle and Chim had clapped him on the shoulder that it registered.

“ _Evan,”_ Maddie had said.

Buck’s face dropped with surprise.

“This is your niece, June _Evelyn_ Han.” Maddie had repeated.

And Chim couldn’t even be mad that Buck made him cry because Buck had just gaped at them and asked if Maddie was sure before they were all laughing around their new center of gravity.

From that point on Buck and June’s devotion towards one another rivaled the greats. It was a miracle that Eddie wasn’t jealous.

* * *

1.

After months stuck inside with a crying baby and not enough sleep, getting to go out for a day just the two of them was _exhausting._ In the good way though. Chim and Maddie were ready to drop with a bone deep tiredness that came from overstimulation after seeing the same four walls. It took a while for Maddie to feel comfortable being more than a grocery store trip away from June. That’d been a quick boundary they’d set up to give Maddie a moment to herself. Once a week, she got to go grocery shopping by herself. No baby. No Chim. It helped keep the separation anxiety at bay and let Maddie have a break from the crying and the feeding and pooping.

So when Hen and Karen reminded them that it was important for them to have to some time away as a couple as well, it’d taken Chim and Maddie another month or so to finally agree that an afternoon to themselves would be nice.

“Do you think we could talk Buck into babysitting another hour for a nap?” Maddie asked wistfully, blissed out from a good lunch and a walk along the beach.

“Pretty sure he would pay us to just keep her,” Chim said.

Maddie gave a tired giggle, her nose wrinkling in that adorable way Chim hoped June inherited. She’d already gotten the Buckley curls. Chim didn’t know what he was going to do when it came time for her first haircut.

The house was quiet when they made it to the door which Chim hoped was a good sign. June gotten into what Chim liked to call the werewolf stage. His daughter was the picture of sweet innocence during the day but the moment the moon came out she was a screaming banshee that would devour your soul.

The doctor had said it was probably early onset teething but Chim liked werewolf stage better.

Maddie shot Chim an amused smirk, her eyebrows lifting, as she noticed the quiet too.

Either Buck was about to win the role of best babysitter in the world or he’d kidnapped Chim's daughter.

Even as a joke, Chim’s heart still panicked against his chest and okay maybe the separation anxiety was still a bit of a problem.

“Hello?” Maddie called softly when she opened the door, not wanting to wake a sleeping baby if Buck was somehow a miracle worker.

The soft hum of a sports commentator greeted them and when they made it to the living room Chim almost dropped their leftovers.

“That is not fair,” Maddie said both parts jealous and enamored.

Buck grinned up at them sleepily from the couch and waved with his free hand. The other hand was busy soothingly rubbing up and down June’s back as her tiny body curled up on Buck’s chest.

June, by all counts, tolerated tummy time at best. But her favorite spot seemed to be on the wide expanse of Buck’s chest. A small fist was curled around Buck’s shirt with a damp mark darkening the material where she must have started to chew on it.

“Hey,” Buck said in greeting. “We had a little trouble going down without Mom around so I figured some this would tire her out a little.”

He sounded tired himself but the soft smile on his face never wavered. He was right. June was blinking slowly as she curled deeper into the warmth of Buck’s chest. It wasn’t too much later than their bed time they were trying to schedule for June so she could start to get on some kind of routine.

“Hi Baby,” Maddie said, running her hands through June’s hair. “Did you miss Mama?”

June’s mouth quirked up for a second at Maddie’s voice before the owl eyes appeared again and one blink lasted longer than the others. She fussed a little when Maddie picked her up, not wanting to let go of her hold of Buck’s shirt, before the tiredness won and Maddie was cradling her to her chest and heading into the nursery.

Chim felt his throat close up as he watched them go. If you’d told him five years earlier that this what his life was going to be like, he would’ve laughed in your face and then drank his way through a six pack alone in his apartment.

He turned to catch what game Buck had on and scowled.

“Buckley, if you think for one second my daughter is going to be a Cardinals fan instead of the Cubs, you are dreaming!"

* * *

2.

Los Angeles had gorgeous weather. Maddie lamented the fact that she missed the Pennsylvania fall weather every October which was something both Buck and Bobby both whole heartedly agreed in that weird Midwesterner way. That usually went off into a tangent about other changes in the weather and Chim had no idea someone could be so passionate about snow until Bobby had thoroughly schooled Buck about how superior the winters were in Minnesota. But no one could be mad when the sun was out, the sky was clear, and the intensity of the heat wasn’t too suffocating.

Chim and Maddie hadn’t been able to attend the last couple of team barbecues so his team had brought the barbecues to them with hundreds of pounds of tin foiled food and coolers of drinks and mountains of sunscreen. All of the kids--- and Buck--- had been beyond enthusiastic about turning the barbecue into a pool party. The kids--- and Buck--- had barely tolerated the time it took to slather on the sunscreen before they were cannonballing into the cool water of the pool.

Chim was… less so.

He’d been to too many calls were the parents weren’t paying attention and found that their children had fallen into the pool and the idea of his daughter anywhere near the water sent him into a cold sweat that had nothing to do with the heat.

“Which is why she should learn early,” Maddie had argued while she put June in an adorable pink and purple polka dotted swim suit.

Chim got that. The rational part of his brain understood. But that still didn’t stop him from worrying.

“Honestly, Chim,” Maddie had said with that laugh of hers. “I taught Buck how to swim before he was two. It’ll be good for her.”

She was right. Again, Chim knew that. Buck was a strong swimmer and he had no doubt that a large part of that was because of the ground roots Maddie had planted by teaching him to swim so early in his development.

“Yeah man,” Buck added. “And I literally survived a tsunami.”

“That doesn’t help!” Chim’s voice had pitched up towards the high side of his vocal range. “Shouldn’t she have one of those floating things?”

Buck and Maddie had been downright scandalized when Chim had even suggested such a thing which led to a lecture from _Buck_ of all people --- Chim never thought he’d be lectured by Evan Buckley--- about how arm floaties were downright dangerous because they gave a false sense of security more than anything even if they were cute which led to Chim picturing his daughter stuck upside down with the damn floaties doing nothing to keep her safe and he shouldn’t be freaking out because there were trained first responders all around the pool and---

“You’re spiraling,” Hen said, shocking Chim from his mental tirade.

His best friend tilted her head knowingly.

“She’s doing just fine,” Hen added.

Chim tore his gaze away from his beer and looked over at his daughter.

June’s floppy hat matched her swim suit and Chim couldn’t help but smile because he may be partial but his kid was pretty damn cute. Buck was holding her so the water was only at her waist and her tiny hands were clamped hard on his wrists as he moved her all around the water, getting her comfortable enough for her legs to kick out under her. Maddie was circling around the two and clapping her hands when Buck would bounce June a little and it didn’t end in a meltdown.

The fist in Chim’s chest loosened and he smiled for what felt like the first time the entire pool party.

“Okay,” Chim said looking back at Hen with a nod. “I was spiraling.”

“Happens to the best of us,” Hen said and tapped her glass against Chim’s. “I didn’t realize Maddie and Buck were such big pool people.”

Chim winced a little around his drink.

“They spent a lot of time at the local pool growing up,” he said vaguely.

Chim could remember when Maddie would tell him stories about how she would drag Buck with her when they were younger and stay at the pool almost every day from open to close because their parents were either not home or were fighting loud enough that the two Buckley children would retreat from the noise on their bikes.

He knew there was a lot about Maddie and Buck’s childhood that he didn’t know but he could read between the lines of the few stories he’d been told. He’d been the same. Maddie had been there when he’d retreated to the safe place of humor and overcompensating for everything a couple days after he’d broke the news to his dad that he was going to be a grandfather.

That conversation… hadn’t gone well.

But Chim and Maddie tried not to dwell in the past. June was someone they could focus on instead because his daughter was their future and that was all that mattered. 

Then, the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard erupted across the entire picnic.

Chim swung his gaze back and locked eyes with Maddie’s own surprised ones as a grin spread across her face.

Buck ducked his mouth back to the water and blew until bubbles appeared between them and June squealed out another chorus of giggles, letting go of Buck’s arm to pat at the bubbles in front of her.

Chim would’ve been jealous that Buck got his daughter to laugh if he wasn’t too busy running over with his phone to videotape it for later.

* * *

3.

Chim could’ve kissed Buck when he opened the door.

Teething had been, for lack of a better word, _brutal_ for June. She never could seem to find a position that was comfortable and she’d already been diagnosed with an ear infection. Work, which had been hard to go back to after the maternity leave, had turned into some kind of relief for both of them. It’d been even harder to find Maddie crying in the bathroom when nothing they’d done seemed to help relieve some of June’s pain.

So, when Sue had called asking Maddie if she could cover last minute at the call center, Chim had all but shoved her out the door.

“You need a break, Mads.” Chim had insisted when Maddie had timidly brought it up.

But an hour in, Chim was really starting to regret ever thinking he was capable of becoming a father. Nothing was working! The frozen washcloths, the cold chew toys, not even the medicine her pediatrician had prescribed was doing anything. He was desperate and maybe panicking a little which he was sure June was picking up on and that wasn’t helping.

So, he called for reinforcements.

“Thank God!” Chim exclaimed and all but thrusted his daughter into Buck’s arms.

Chim tried not to feel a little jealous and let his insecurity eat away at him when June, while still crying, seemed to curl up against Buck’s neck like he’d saved her from Chim’s horrible parenting.

“What’s going on?” Buck asked, stepping inside and rocking June a little. “Is it the teething?”

“I was kidding myself by thinking I should ever become a parent!” Chim said instead of answering and Buck’s eyes widened even further because yeah, okay, maybe Chim was starting to cry a little too.

“Chim,” Buck said, ushering them into the living room. “Chim, c’mon! You’re a great dad!”

“This is the first time she’d stopped crying in _hours,”_ Chim exclaimed, waving his hand at Buck.

June was still fussing and whining but she’d stopped crying to latch her mouth around Buck’s shirt collar. He knew his daughter and Buck had a special kind of bond but that didn’t change the fact that it took Buck less than thirty seconds to calm his kid and that _hurt._

He covered his face with his hands and let Buck bully him onto the couch. Buck’s hand curled around the hollow between his neck and his shoulder and maybe he was exhausted but he was starting to understand why that seemed to be his daughter’s favorite place to be when Buck held her.

“Chim,” Buck said when Chim had finally calmed down. “You’re an awesome dad.”

Chim rubbed at his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t really feel like it.”

Chim’s ears were ringing with the memory of June’s screaming.

“Look, I may not know a lot about babies---” Buck started and Chim scoffed in disbelief.

June was still latched onto his shirt like it was her only lifeline.

“But,” Buck pressed on. “I know what it’s like to not have a dad who cared.”

 _You do too_ was what Buck didn’t say but it was there all the same.

And Chim did know. He knew how Buck’s relationship with is dad was nonexistent. How, even though his own dad was absent and busy in Seoul, he still answered when Chim called sometimes. He knew the unspoken things Buck never talked about when it came to his dad and could read between the lines when Maddie would hint about how clingy Buck had been around her when he was little. He knew that Buck sometimes flinched when no one was looking. He knew way back when Buck had been in the hospital and Bobby couldn’t get a hold of anybody.

And it was messed up but it still managed to make Chim feel a little better all the same.

Chim nodded because he knew what Buck was saying. He was worked up because he did care. Despite the tears and the insecurity and the failures and the mess ups, Chim cared about his kid a hell of a lot. She was his whole world and June wasn’t about to let him forget it. As if on cue, June fussed a little more and released Buck’s drool laden collar to start to scrunch up her face. Chim braced for impact but before she could start crying, Buck had switched her around so that her head was cradled in his hand and her body was lying on his forearm. Like Buck was some kind for magician, June went boneless and seemed comfortable for what felt like years while Buck softly rocked his arm with his knee.

“Thank you, Buckaroo,” Chim said.

* * *

4.

Chim tried not to be too petulant when he stomped up the stairs and beelined for Hen at the table. Without a word, he handed her a twenty and then grumbled his way over to the coffee pot.

Bobby watched him with a raised brow.

“Everything all right, Chim?” Bobby asked.

“Peachy, Cap.”

“Then why are you sulking?” Eddie asked from behind his own coffee mug.

And Chim was not sulking. He wasn’t.

But then Hen gasped and she waved Chim’s twenty-dollar bill like a triumphant flag.

“June said her first word?” She asked, jumping up from her seat.

Eddie cursed as Chim nodded and pulled out his wallet from his pocket.

“Serves you right for doubting the power of a mother’s love,” Hen said, far too smug and accepting Eddie’s money. “Wait till Buck hears about our winnings---”

But Chim lifted a finger and shook his head. 

“I wouldn’t get too attached to that money, Henrietta,” Chim said.

His team stopped, stunned and confused because the betting pool had been torn pretty evenly on what June’s first word was going to be. The two leaders in the race had been mama and dada with no and ball thrown in there because June had been obsessed with an Elmo ball she’d played with at the grocery store and refused to let go. Ball was pretty advance for her age so Chim was skeptical but his kid was also a genius so…

Chim sipped on his coffee. Again, he wasn’t pouting. He wasn’t.

“So, what was it?” Eddie asked after Chim dragged out the suspense.

Chim sighed, put upon and okay, maybe sulking a little as he pulled out his phone. He should feel embarrassed by the amount of storage spaces was filled with pictures of his daughter on his phone but again, not to be biased but he had the cutest kid in the world so, no shame. Bobby, Hen, and Eddie all leaned in as he pulled up a video of June sitting in her Bumbo floor booster seat.

He pressed play and let them watch his great defeat.

Maddie’s voice echoed from his speakers.

“Say… Ma-ma,” Maddie’s voice said, over enunciating even though they both agreed that was cheating. “Ma-ma.”

June’s lips smacked together as she mimicked Maddie’s lips, smiling with her one tooth and laughing when Chim made a face behind the camera to distract her.

“Come on, baby,” Maddie said. “Ma-ma. Maaaa-ma.”

June’s tongue clicked against the top of her mouth and she clapped at her own success.

The video goes on a little bit longer, Maddie and Chim encouraging her but also barely, restraining themselves from overwhelming her, before June rolled her lips and promptly said:

“Buc.”

Silence descended both in the loft and in the video and Maddie’s face appeared on the screen with a shocked expression.

“Did she just say Buck?”

“Buc!” June repeated and then clapped again before the video ended.

June was too young to even know what she was saying and really she was just mimicking a sound more than anything with the ‘bu’ and then clicking her tongue but…

Buck. His child’s first word was Buck.

Speak of the devil.

Buck’s boots pounded as he climbed up the stairs with his usual absurdly early morning enthusiasm.

“Morning!” He chirped like the traitor that he was, oblivious to everything and everyone that wasn’t the coffee pot.

Buck didn’t seem to notice anything until he had his cup of coffee in his hands and turned around to see that they were all staring at him.

“What?” He asked, shifting uncomfortably under their scrutiny.

Bobby held out his hand to Hen with a triumphant grin.

“Chim has a video to show you,” Bobby said as Hen slapped the money into his outstretched hand.

* * *

5.

In hindsight, bringing a baby to a fire station where everything by nature is _loud_ was probably not a great idea. But Maddie had been trying to get Chim to be a little more comfortable taking June out on his own and Bobby had offered lunch. It seemed like the perfect solution because then if anything happened, like at the pool party, Chim was surrounded by a dozen first responders to help.

Chim had a delicious meal and June got to spend some time in her floor booster making Eddie uncomfortable because apparently, he’d been awkward even when his own kid was a baby.

What he didn’t account for was the bell going off.

June startled badly and let go of Eddie’s finger like she’d been burned. Eddie’s panicked expression swung around to Chim before suddenly his daughter was screaming bloody murder. Chim had barely been able to get the straps off her before she was clinging to him in terror. Eddie threw him an apologetic smile before he all but bolted down the stairs and Chim vowed never to leave the house with his daughter without Maddie ever again.

At least, that is what he’d planned before Maddie had set Buck and his stubbornness on Chim.

When Chim had refused to come back with June despite Buck’s many, many, _many_ text messages, Buck had brought in Hen because, apparently, the Buckleys play dirty.

He curled his hand tighter around the carrier handle and stepped through the bay doors like he was afraid he was about to step on a minefield. June was completely unfazed and was watching Chim with a judging eyebrow that was all her mother. She wasn’t even a year old yet and she was already giving him attitude.

“Up here, Chim,” Bobby called down from the loft and Chim climbed the steps tensely.

The wafts of grilled chicken and balsamic reduction made Chim’s mouth water but he was too nervous for the bell traumatizing his daughter to feel anything but the nausea of nerves. Buck clapped his hands together and jumped up at the sight of them. June laughed and clapped her hands back before reaching for Buck from her carrier.

“This probably isn’t a good idea, Buck,” Chim said even though he didn’t stop Buck from pulling June free from her carrier and lifting her into his arms.

“Stop being a worry wart,” Buck said and smothered his niece with about a million kisses before he all but dragged them both to the table.

“Hey Chim,” Hen said with a knowing smile as she took a bite of her salad.

Chim glanced around the table when he realized everyone was staring at him and frowned. “What?”

“Buck,” Bobby said as he fixed Chim a plate. “Came up with an idea.”

“I don’t---” Chim started and then stopped when he looked over and saw Buck fixing June into a high chair that he must have gotten _somewhere._

But it wasn’t the high chair that surprised him. It was the tiny yellow bumble bee earmuff headphones that he was fake putting on his head that caught his attention. June stared at them, enraptured by the color and giggling at whatever face Buck was making, before she reached for them and Buck let her ‘help’ him put them on herself. June smiled and before she could get too weirded out, everyone at the table clapped their hands with Buck and she giggled and clapped her hands too.

“These bad boys have an industry-leading noise reduction rating of NRR 31db,” Buck said to Chim even though his attention was on June and putting some banana baby puffs on the tray in front of her.

“Do you even know that the means?” Chim quipped because if he didn’t have humor all he would have is his tears and he was not about to let Buck make him cry again.

Just then the bell went off and June didn’t even flinch as she offered a banana puff for Buck to eat. Buck made a noise with his mouth and ate the puff before he pretended to eat June’s fingers and pressed a bunch of kisses to her hand.

“Does it matter?” Buck asked, again, far too smug for his own good.

* * *

+1

There were few things in life that were certain but there was an even more exclusive list of things Chim knew to be true. Things like he loved Maddie with all his heart and Kevin would’ve loved June if he’d been alive to meet her.

Speaking of June, he hadn’t seen his daughter in close to twelve hours and it was making his skin itch. But Buck was supposed to bring her to the station to trade off with Chim before Buck started his twenty-four-hour shift. He’d offered to take June to her checkup when Maddie had realized she’d double booked herself and since Chim and Buck were going to cross paths it worked out perfectly.

He couldn’t believe how much his daughter had grown. She was going to be a year in a few weeks. He’d been a father for a whole year.

Father. Dad. Papa.

That last one had come out of nowhere but when June said it Chim almost passed out with joy. She was getting to be so big and he was maybe a little obsessed with her but he had a kid. He had a daughter. And he loved her with his whole heart and he just didn’t even want to get over that. He wasn’t even past the ‘Hey, do you want to see a picture of my cute kid?’ stage.

“How do you deal with it?” Chim had asked Hen one day when they were restocking the ambulance.

“What?” Hen replied, patient from years of Chim’s random thoughts.

“With Denny? I feel like a stalker to my own kid!”

Maybe it had something to do with the years of an absent parent ignoring him literally on the other side of the world but he was still so happy and so surprised by his kid every day he couldn’t even fathom being like his own father. That’d been some real growth if he did say so himself.

And Maddie!

Maddie was everything but watching her be the best mother he’d ever known made him fall in love with her more than he even realized he could. Maddie, Buck’s faceless older sister, who ran into their world like her life depended on it. It did to be honest. Maddie, who made a lame joke about an ice maker, and became the love of his life. Maddie, who faced down an armed robber, and didn't flinch. Fearless, beautiful, wonderful, loving Maddie. 

Chim had felt stalled for so long that it was amazing to him how far he’d gone and now because of his daughter he had even farther to go!

It was great!

Finally, after hours of waiting, he heard the soft footsteps of Buck’s shoes on the stairs to the loft and Chim was up on his feet before he even realized it.

June already had her bumble bee headphones on and a pair of sunglasses in her carrier and his daughter was going to be way cooler than anyone else’s kid. But instead of her usual smile that Chim received whenever his kid saw him, June’s face was set in a grumpy frown.

“Uh oh,” Chim said even though something like an alarm in his own head started to ring. “Is it nap time?”

“Uh,” Buck said, ducking his head down and rubbing the back of his neck. “I think the nurse was just a little rough with the last shot.”

Another alarm rang through Chim’s head and he frowned because Buck was fidgeting and caving inward. For a guy who could take up so much space, Buck knew how to make himself small and out of the way really easily.

Something was wrong, Chim realized, and he couldn’t figure out what it was.

“Something wrong, Buck?” Bobby asked from the kitchen, seeming to catch the same unease that Chim was.

Buck’s flinched and he clamped his mouth shut before shaking his head.

“Um,” Buck started as he shook his head and put the carrier down at Chim’s feet. “I’m going to go… change…”

Buck turned on his heel without answering and all but ran back down the stairs. Chim sighed as he watched Buck disappear into the locker room before he squatted down in front of his daughter.

“You want to tell me what happened?” He asked, pulling June’s sunglasses off.

June still looked thoroughly unimpressed.

Chim’s phone vibrated against his leg and he knew without looking that it was Maddie. Chim had learned after being stuck in close quarters with her for the first few months of June’s life that Maddie had a weird super sense when it came to her babies and despite every protest, Buck was still one of them.

“Hey Maddie,” Chim said, poking June’s cheek and only succeeding at making her frown even more.

Jesus, it was scary how much she looked like her mother.

“Buck just dropped the package off. I’m heading home---”

Maddie cut him off before he could get too caught up in his promises of various Buffriday dishes.

“She said _what?”_ Chim’s snapped exclamation had several people turning to look at him and Eddie frowned, turning to glance at Chim and then back where Buck had gone, before jumping up and following after him.

To be honest, he didn’t hear a lot of what Maddie said after her initial declaration. All he knew was that a hot angry heat was crawling at his chest in a way he never experienced before as all the pieces started to fall into place; Buck’s wilting withdrawnness, June’s vexation, the alarm bells ringing off in Chim’s head.

“I’ll take care of it,” he said to Maddie only because he knew that if Maddie handled it, there would be a very real possibility of fire and chaos.

Motherhood really had brought out the Maddie’s former protectiveness in tenfold.

He stood up and glanced at Bobby has he put his phone back in his pocket. Hen’s face was pinched in a mixture of impressed and worry and Bobby’s troubled inner monologue must have read something on Chim’s face before he was nodding.

“Go ahead,” Bobby said. “We’ll take care of her.”

Chim leaned down and kissed June’s forehead before passing his daughter off to Hen. He took the stairs two at a time and hurried out to his car. He’d have to be fast if he wanted to get there in time and with LA traffic that was always a challenge. Chim didn’t see Buck from where ever he was hiding but that was probably for the best.

By some miracle that probably had something to do with his mother looking out for him, Chim made it to the pediatrician in one piece and before they closed. He forced himself to take a calm breath because even though he was as mad as he’d ever been in his whole life, Chim was conscious enough to recognize that he was still technically in uniform and there would be witnesses.

The nurse that was at the desk greeted him with a smile. 

“Hi,” Chim said. “I’d like to speak to the nurse that saw my daughter today?”

The nurse’s smile dimmed a little. “Sure. Do you remember---”

“No, I wasn’t here. But it should be in her file. June Evelyn Han. She was in here less than an hour ago.”

“Is everything all ri---”

“The nurse, please." Chim tossed his driver's license on the counter. "You know what? Go ahead and bring Dr. Hathaway too.”

“They could be---”

“I’ll wait.”

Something in his expression must have clued her in on just how pissed off Chim was because she hurried from behind the desk and back into the office. Later, he would feel bad about his shortness with her because he knew she probably didn’t have anything to do with it but for the moment he was going to sit in the hot feeling that was running through his veins.

Dr. Hathaway and the nurse that must have tended to his kid came out to the lobby confused and a little annoyed.

“Mr. Han---” Dr. Hathaway started but Chim was on fire.

“I’d like everything you have on file for my daughter in my hands now.”

“Mr. Han?” Dr. Hathaway startled and it was a shame because Chim had liked him but he wasn’t about to trust June with him every again.

Chim turned to the nurse who huffed in irritation.

“You want to explain to me how you thought what you did was okay?”

“Mr. Han,” Dr. Hathaway tried for the third time but Chim held up a hand to silence him.

“Excuse me?” The nurse drew the words out like a sneer and Chim was more than prepared to fight it out with her in front of everyone.

“You heard me. In what world do you think it’s okay to belittle someone and tell them where they stand with the child in their care?”

“I don’t understand. If you would just explain---” Dr. Hathaway said looking between Chim and his nurse.

“Your nurse felt the need to tell my brother-in-law that he had no business taking care of my daughter. Her uncle. Honestly, lady, what gives you the right to say something so shitty to a person? That man is a Los Angeles firefighter---”

The nurse _rolled her eyes_ and shook her head. “Mr. Han, I’m sorry if you brother-in-law was oversensitive to what I said. I merely suggested that June’s visits would be more beneficial if you or her mother were here instead of a---”

“You called him a stranger!” Chim was shouting now.

“Well, to a child that young, he is.”

“Buck isn’t a stranger to my child!” Chim fumed. “That kid is my daughter’s favorite person in the whole world and you told him he was nothing to her and made him wait on the other side of the room while you gave her a shot!”

“Mr. Han,” Dr. Hathaway tried, stepping between them. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding---”

“You bet there was, doc,” Chim said. “The misunderstand was thinking you and your staff have any business caring for my daughter. I want her file _now.”_

Chim called Maddie when he had June’s file in hand and was driving back to the station.

“Maddie,” Chim said. “I abandoned our daughter at a fire station to go fire her pediatrician but I’m going back for her now.”

“I’ve already got an appointment with another pediatrician set up.”

And God, Chim loved her because he heard the same thing he was feeling in her voice: the undying fireproof protectiveness that had Chim hearing war cries in his ears at anyone who thought they could come for his family.

It was starting to get dark by the time he made it back to the fire station and mercifully, the trucks were still parked inside when he got there. He used the last of the lingering ferocity to speed him through the bay doors and up the steps to the loft. Buck was sitting on the couches away from everyone else but Eddie while Bobby carried June around the kitchen. They must have found the formula in the black hole that was June’s diaper bag because Hen was shaking the bottle and testing the temperature.

Without a word, Bobby and Hen handed Chim his baby and her bottle before he spun on his heel to head back to the couch. Buck watched Chim come near him with a timidness that had no right being anywhere on Buck’s face.

“Chim, I don’t think I should---” But Chim all but forced his daughter into Buck’s arms.

June curled a fist around Buck’s shirt collar and fussed until Chim held the bottle out for her. Buck’s hand curled around it automatically and any protests died on his lips when Chim placed his hands on his hips.

“June loves you Buck. If it was a popularity contest, you definitely won. Don’t ever let anyone make you think otherwise.”

Buck’s teeth worried on his bottom him lip but before he could dwell on the intensity of Chim’s stare, June was lifting up her other hand to cling to his jaw, pulling his face down as if to say ‘hey, pay attention to me.’

Because one thing was true no matter what some nurse said: Chim trusted Buck with his daughter’s life above anyone else in the world and nothing was going to change that.


End file.
